You Pay the Full Cost Until Your Assets Are Gone
Georgia Medicaid requires you to spend your countable assets down to $2,000 before the state pays a dollar. There is no exception for homeowners and no grace period.
At about $8,821 a month, the math is brutal. $50,000 in savings is gone in about 6 months. $100,000 is gone in about 11 months. $250,000 is gone in about 28 months, nearly 2 and a half years. Only then does Medicaid step in. See How Much Does a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust Cost in Georgia for what advance planning would have cost instead.
What the Spend-Down Looks Like in Practice
Countable assets include savings, CDs, stocks, IRAs and 401(k)s you could cash out (unless you are getting regular payments that include part of the principal), and second homes. Exempt assets include your primary home while you live there, one vehicle, and personal belongings.
These exemptions sound generous. They are not a protection plan. The home is only exempt while you are alive. After you die, Georgia’s recovery program can file a claim against it.
After You Qualify: You Keep $70 a Month
Once Medicaid starts paying, your income situation changes completely. Georgia requires almost all of your monthly income, Social Security, pension, everything, to go directly to the nursing home.
You keep $70 a month for yourself. That is the personal needs allowance for haircuts, phone calls, and other basics. If your income is over $2,982 a month in 2026, you are not automatically disqualified. The extra money has to go into a Qualified Income Trust first, a special account that holds income above the limit so Medicaid does not count it against you.
After You Die: Georgia’s Estate Recovery Program
Under O.C.G.A. Section 49-4-147.1, Georgia can file a claim against the estate for what Medicaid paid.
Georgia does not limit recovery to what goes through probate. Under Georgia’s estate recovery rule, your estate includes property that passes by joint tenancy, survivorship, life estate, trust, annuity, IRA, or any other arrangement. So payable-on-death accounts, joint property, TOD deeds, and a funded revocable trust are not reliably outside the state’s reach. No Georgia court has decided how far this rule can be enforced, so no one can promise these assets are safe.
Georgia does not collect from an estate worth $25,000 or less. For a larger estate, it waives its claim to the first $25,000, so the most it can seek is the value above that, and never more than Medicaid actually paid.
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust funded more than 60 months before you apply gives stronger protection against both the spend-down and estate recovery than a revocable trust. Its strength does not come from skipping probate. It comes from giving up ownership. Federal law (42 U.S.C. § 1396p) lets a state claim only assets you still had a legal title or interest in when you died, so trust assets are generally outside what Georgia can claim. But Georgia’s rules do mention trusts, any income or right to live in the home that you keep may still count, and no Georgia court has settled the question. No trust is a guarantee.
If You Made Gifts in the Last 5 Years
Medicaid reviews every asset transfer made in the 60 months before you apply. This is a federal rule that Georgia applies. Gifts to your kids or transfers into a trust in that window count against you, unless you got fair value back.
The penalty is the transfer amount divided by Georgia’s penalty divisor. This is a set dollar figure Georgia uses to calculate the penalty, $11,122 a month as of April 2026. During that penalty period, Medicaid will not pay the nursing home. Example: a $100,000 gift two years before applying creates about 9 months of ineligibility, roughly $79,000 the family pays privately, on top of losing the gift itself.
If You Are Married: What Happens to the Spouse at Home
The spouse who stays home gets stronger protections. They can keep up to $162,660 in countable assets in 2026 under the Community Spouse Resource Allowance, while the spouse entering care still spends down to $2,000. For a fuller picture of planning ahead for care costs, see Long-Term Care Planning.
The home stays exempt as long as the at-home spouse lives there. But once both spouses are gone, Georgia can still file its claim, and the home is usually the target.
If the at-home spouse’s own income is low, they can also keep some of the applying spouse’s income. In 2026, Georgia guarantees the at-home spouse at least $4,066.50 a month in combined income before any of it has to go toward the cost of care.
What You Can Still Do If You Have No Plan
1
Nursing Home Admission Is Coming Soon
Crisis Medicaid planning costs more than planning ahead, but it can still convert some assets to exempt status and set up a Qualified Income Trust if needed.
2
Already in a Nursing Home
A new Medicaid Asset Protection Trust will not avoid the look-back penalty at this point. But spousal planning and exempt asset strategies may still help, alongside documents like those covered in Incapacity Planning. Call an elder law attorney right away.
3
More Than 5 Years Before You Need Care
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust costs $6,500. It gives your home and savings stronger protection against both the spend-down and estate recovery than a revocable trust, though no trust is a guarantee.
See Medicaid Planning for the full picture of how Atlanta families protect what they have built. Book a call to find out where you stand today.
